Saharan internet strikes again...let me try to recreate this post:
The "Advertisement" (block 1) will be "Double Epreuve"....i.e. "double proofed."
The barrel may have been made (or choke bored) by "Seyve." Seyve is a good Stephanois name...been around for centuries (and it is also an Irish name). I cannot for the moment say which "Seyve" but it may have been Jean Seyve. His daughter got married in 1934 in Saint-Etienne and his occupation was listed as "Armurier" (gun-repairer or gun trade; "arquabusier" being the formal word for gun maker; "canonnier" being the word for barrel maker.)
France has been centrally controlled from Paris for centuries and to this day 50% of the French economy is State owned. So there are records. it has an excellent graves registry associated with its Catholic past. Saint-Etienne since the 1500's has been the center of French arms industry and like Birmingham or Liege, trying to figure out who did what amongst the hundreds of firms making components is difficult.
Here are a few Seyve's from the Stephanois press which may be associated with the family:
1855 - Antoine Seyve, Armurier (his death)
1876 - Francois Seyve, Armurier (death of a baby)
1875 - Joseph Seyve, Armurier (death of a baby)
1876 - Francois J.J. Seyve, Armurier, rue du Treuil, 102 (death of a baby)
1905 - Joseph Seyve, Armurier (death of his widow)
1934 - Jean Seyve, Armurier ( marriage of his daughter Marthe Seyve)
As Raimey has figured out, I'm in the middle of no-where again for a few weeks and will work on this a bit more. We'll try to determine who is "AB" but that can also be very difficult. Gene Williams
Oh, and I started learning about French doubles from Larry...Check out the chokes...they may be "full" and "beyond full." Shooting my "Wonder" 12 bore was like popping at Clays with a rifle.
http://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=448156&page=5
